GI Alice Keep Clips/Belt Slides (“Alice clips”) have traditionally been used to attach gear to belts, vests, packs, or other “base unit.” In most situations, the base unit is wearable or portable. Exemplary types of gear that have been attached include military gear such as gun holsters or knife sheaths, survival gear such as first aid kits, compasses, or canteens, hunting gear, fishing gear, camping gear, police gear, miscellaneous gear pouches, or other gear that one might want to attach to a base unit. To work with an Alice clip a base unit or gear would only need a loop, hook, strap, or other attachment mechanism through which the Alice clip may be inserted or fastened around. In some cases, the gear or base unit attachment mechanism could be part of the base unit itself. For example, a belt may be sufficiently narrow that the Alice clip may fasten around the belt without any additional structure needed.
As shown and described with respect to FIG. 1 in U.S. Pat. No. 7,007,352 B1 issued Mar. 7, 2006 to Hill (hereafter “Hill”), the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference, a traditional Alice clip is made from three metal pieces held together by tension, that when released tend to spring-apart, often hurting the user. As illustrated in Hill, an Alice clip may be used to attach gear to a base unit in three steps: an opening step, a positioning step, and a closing step. In the opening step, the back gate of the Alice clip is slid so that the Alice clip is in the open position. In one type of positioning step, one body leg is positioned through or around both the attachment mechanism of the base unit and the attachment mechanism of the gear. In an alternative second step, one body leg is positioned through or around the attachment mechanism of the base unit and the other body leg is positioned through or around the attachment mechanism of the gear. In the closing step, the back gate of the Alice clip is slid so that the Alice clip is in the closed position. It should be noted that the Alice clip is not truly locked because the back gate can easily or accidentally be slid open again.
Alice clips are generally disliked for many reasons. In the closed position, they dig into the user's hip or otherwise gouge and poke the user. When they are opened they are designed to spring-open, which tends to result in a painful “snap” to the user. They have been known to come loose or break under pressure. Because they have several sharp or narrow points, they tend to snag on anything that comes near including branches, leaves, other clothing, other gear, and anything else that touches the clip. When Alice clips come loose, break, or snag, the result is often lost gear and, under extreme situations, lost gear falling into the hands of the enemy. They tend to make noise because they rattle, and they tend to make noise as they open. Being metal, they tend to add weight, and do not float. Other problems with using metal clips is that they can set off magnetic mines and be detected by enemy ground or air surveillance radars. Importantly, gear held on by an Alice clip also tends to slide around, for instance laterally left and right on a belt. Gear sliding around can interfere with movements of the user's body and make it difficult to interact with the gear, for instance delaying the time it takes to pull a pistol out of a holster, when split-seconds can make all the difference.
Military personnel have been known to substitute creative securing devices for Alice clips. One substitute is parachute cord or other tieable apparatus. Tieable apparatus must be untied for removal, a process that is too slow to make tieable apparatus convenient for use in critical situations. Another substitute is black plastic electrical “tyton” ties or heavy zip ties. Only the strongest weight-rated ties can meet the weight requirements of military personnel. Also, since they are supposed to be cut for removal, extras must be carried if removed gear is to be reattached. In some cases, ties may be unfastened by inserting a small penknife into the locking tab to unfasten the tie. But most of the time this does not work and, if it does, the locking tab is weakened and often will be unable to secure the tie together again and hold the same load. Thus, zip ties and the like are not considered reusable.
A product available from Tactical Tailor of Lakewood, Wash. called a Malice Clip® is a reusable, high strength, injection molded, connecting clip. Once attached they require flat tipped object (a screwdriver, car key, knife point, bullet point, ball point pen) to be inserted into the opening slot on the back of the clip to unlock it in order to adjust it or remove it. The clip will not open for removal or adjustment of tightness of fit until it is disengaged by the user using the flat tipped object. Sometimes, however, gear needs to be removed quickly, especially in cases of emergency. Also, gear may begin to slide around on the base unit requiring tightening of the clip, but adjusting the tightness of this clip requires the same cumbersome steps as removal.
Soft belt keeper systems include a strap and a connection apparatus. The strap is generally made from nylon, webbing, leather, or other flexible material. The connection apparatus is generally a two-part device such as a snap or a hook-and-loop fabric (e.g., Velcro®) closure mechanism. The straps generally have a first part of the connection apparatus on one end of the strap and a second part of the connection apparatus on the opposite end of the strap. Gear is held to a base unit by wrapping the strap around the base unit and interconnecting the two parts of the connection apparatus. In addition to requiring threading or looping, these systems may inadvertently disengage or loosen, and are typically unable to form a consistently tight attachment to the base unit to prevent the gear from sliding around.
In addition to a user's belt, another type of base unit of particular significance is the MOLLE/PALS attachment or connecting system, examples of which are shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,713,764 B1 issued May 6, 2014 to Rittenhouse et al. (hereafter “Rittenhouse”), which patent is incorporated herein by reference in its entirely. The term “PALS” is an acronym for Pouch Attachment Ladder System and comprises a grid of webbing originated by the United States Army Development and Engineering Center that is used to attach smaller equipment on to a load bearing platform mounted on an individual. The term “MOLLE” is an acronym for Modular Lightweight Load-Carrying Equipment. The MOLLE/PALS attachment or connecting system has become a de facto standard for modular tactical gear and has served to replace the “click and stick” system used in the earliest modular vest systems, which may still be in use in many police departments. Currently there are three general modes of attachment in the MOLLE environment. They include the “Natick Snap” that uses a polyethylene reinforced webbing strap with a “Pushthedot” snap for security. In addition there is the polymer Malice Clip® described above as an alternative to the Natick snap concept. Finally, there are a variety of attachments that fall into “Weave and Tuck” categories in which the end of an interwoven strap is tucked into an items backing after attachment to a vest or pack.
The gear typically supported in the MOLLE environment may include modular packs, pouches, vests, holsters and other modern military gear which may be cooperatively structured with a support platform including backpacks, harnesses, and the like. As such, the attachment or connecting system commonly used for the removable support of military gear, in the manner described above incorporates the “PALS” webbing structure. In cooperation therewith, the support platform will incorporate a “MOLLE” compatible system.
More specifically, as shown and described in Rittenhouse, the MOLLE/PALS systems include both the supported object and the support platform having a plurality of rows of elongated webbing strips stacked vertically one above the other, with spaces between each row. Each strip is attached to a corresponding surface in a manner which forms a plurality of successive, immediately adjacent loops along the length of the respective strips. Moreover, each of the strips on each of the supported object and support platform is substantially horizontally oriented and vertically spaced from one another. In order to provide a cooperative, reliable and easily attached and detached connecting system, the space between each of the plurality of webbing strips includes a predetermined transverse dimension. More specifically, the transverse dimension of the space located between each of the webbing strips of both the supported objects and the support platform are sufficient to allow a corresponding webbing strip on the other of the supported object or support platform to be nested there between. As a result, correspondingly disposed loops are disposed in linear axial alignment with one another. This alignment of loops facilitates the passage of various types of connecters to pass there through in order to accomplish either an attachment or detachment of the supported object and support platform.
However, known or conventional connecting structures which have been adapted for use with the MOLLE/PALS system include recognized disadvantages. For example and as indicated above, known connecting structures include flexible straps which are intended to pass through the successively aligned loops of both the supported object and the support platform. However, the flexibility of such straps inhibit their insertion through the aligned loops and as a result their use is time consuming and generally unreliable.
Accordingly, there is a need in this area for a connector having cooperative structuring to be efficiently and effectively used with the MOLLE/PALS systems in a manner which overcomes the commonly recognized disadvantages. As such, a proposed and improved connector should include sufficient rigidity to facilitate the threading of the connector through the aligned loops of the cooperative webbing strips of both the supported object and the support platform. Moreover, an improved connector should also include a locking assembly having the ability to reliably maintain the connection between the supported object or gear and the support platform or base unit. A proposed locking assembly used in combination with an improved connector should be capable of easy and efficient positioning between a locking orientation and a release orientation, so that a user can quickly attach or detach the supported object or gear relative to the support platform or base unit.
Rittenhouse proposes an elongated, rigid structure resembling a popsicle stick or tongue depressor with a pinching clip on one end. While the Rittenhouse structure would serve to connect gear with a base unit using the MOLLE/PALS system, it would not be useful in other circumstances, for instance in attaching a conventional holster to a conventional belt. Also, the Rittenhouse structure relies on a friction clamp on one end only, thus any impact or other force that overcomes that friction could cause the Rittenhouse structure to inadvertently dislodge.
Hill, on the other hand, discloses a reusable connector with a sliding door 58 that opens vertically to expose a cavity into which a belt or the like could be placed, and then the sliding door 58 can be closed and latched, trapping the belt in the cavity. Hill does not mention and is not adapted for use with the MOLLE/PALS system. Moreover, the cavity in the hill device is of a fixed size, so it cannot be adjusted to or tightened against different sized belts or other base units. Accordingly, the Hill device will allow gear to slide around on the user's belt or other base unit, which as previously discussed can cause discomfort as well as potentially life-threatening difficulties and delays in accessing the gear. Finally, to open the Hill structure one would have to reach in and pinch the barbed tips 90 while pulling up on the door 58; not something that could be easily or quickly done, especially by the user while wearing the device on a belt, for instance.
What is needed is a lightweight, inexpensive, reusable connector that when attached to gear may easily and comfortably be used without tools to removably and adjustably attach the gear quickly and securely to a base unit, and that is particularly adapted for use with both belts and a MOLLE/PALS attaching system.